


Two cats and a toad walk into a Hogwarts...

by ophidianpoet



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, OFF (Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 20:13:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1111048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ophidianpoet/pseuds/ophidianpoet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>OFF characters as Hogwarts students, beginning of the semester</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two cats and a toad walk into a Hogwarts...

Carriages laden with new students and pulled by horses not everyone could see made their way slowly to the looming castle. A thin, pale face was pressed anxiously against one of the windows. “So this is the place we’re going to be spending the next few months, eh? It doesn’t look very welcoming.” Valerie observed, his face set in its usual mask of concern. “Don’t worry, dear brother.” Pablo soothed, placing a hand on his brother’s bony shoulder. “It’s merely a large building, stone has a knack for looking formidable. But soon we’ll be prowling these halls like we’ve lived here our entire lives.” Pablo’s feline smile widened a bit as his brother relaxed. Valerie turned to their companion, a short, stocky foreign boy named Zacharie (his brother’s old friend who, up to this point, had been amusing himself playing with chocolate frogs), and asked “What do you think of the school, hm?” Zacharie looked up, absent-mindedly tracing a finger over the scars that ran from his lips and over his cheeks, and laughed. “I think it looks like a treasure trove of opportunity.” Pablo raised a brow. “Planning mischief already, my friend?” “‘Mischief’ is such a childish word, is it not? I much prefer the phrase, ‘staying ahead of the game’.” Zacharie replied with a low chuckle.

The carriages rattled into the Entrance Hall, and the boys grabbed their bags, beckoning their pets to follow. A pair of white cats and a solemn black toad accompanied the trio out into the torch-lit hall, and they fell in line with their fellow new students drifting into the Great Hall. Once seated on the long wooden benches, heads began turning, looking for familiar faces. In a sea of black robes, one fellow first-year caught Zacharie’s eye. The boy sat with space left around him on the bench, occasionally getting nervous glances from the students around him. His short hair was a washed-out shade of blond, mostly covered with a black ball cap. He stared ahead sullenly, until Zacharie came and sat right next to him. “Is this not the time for conversation and camaraderie, amigo?” he said to the grouchy-looking boy, putting a thick-fingered hand on his new friend’s athletic shoulder. “Who are you?” the student said curtly, ignoring the (probably unwelcome, Zach observed) physical contact. “As the weeks roll by, you may hear the student body refer to me as “the merchant”, as I am a purveyor of many different goods, but you may call me Zacharie. And you? What shall I call you, my stoic friend?”  
"Batter."   
"That can’t be your real name…"  
"It’s what you’re going to call me."  
Zach snickered, and was delighted when Batter gave him an ice-cold stare. He opened his mouth to antagonize further, but fell silent as the Headmistress began speaking and welcoming the new students into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.   
Pablo had been watching Zacharie pick out and approach the stoic young man, leaning back on the table and grinning lazily. It wasn’t that Zach was sadistic, Pablo knew him too well for that. He also knew Zach was a hardworking salesman, but he looked for easy marks. “Guess you’ve found one…” Pablo said quietly, under the Headmistress’ echoing voice.

"…our noble and esteemed four Houses: brave Gryffindor, clever Slytherin, wise Ravenclaw, and diligent Hufflepuff." the Headmistress went on. "Now, allow me to introduce your House Prefects, to whom you will be held accountable once you all are Sorted. In Gryffindor House, we have Miss Vader Eloha. In Slytherin, Mister Unke König. Of Ravenclaw, Mister Japhet Oiseau. In Hufflepuff House, Mister Enoch Géant. These are the paragons to which you may one day aspire…” All around the room, in the corners of red, green, blue and yellow, the Prefects stood briefly when their name was called. Soon, it was time for the first-years to all be Sorted, and told by a mentally-invasive magic hat what House they belonged to. Zacharie and his friends watched the Batter kid step up first, though none of them were able to hear the young man’s name.  
One by one, they all went up before the thousands of other students, and sat down with the ratty old hat placed over their heads. And one by one, they all heard the hat’s creaky voice inside their brains, inquiring, examining…

"Hmmm seems you have no fear, my boy. Could be courage, yes, but also reckless. There’s great strength in you, just don’t do anything you might regret. Gryffindor!" the hat cried out for Batter.  
"Ah, you’re a clever one, aren’t you? Always watching, scheming, the one holding the strings, eh? You’re a thinker, but you’re cunning. Wearing a mask where no one will see. Slytherin!" the hat proclaimed for Zacharie.  
"You’re a natural-born judge, if ever I saw one. Weigh all the options and levy out a fair outcome. And not above meting out punishment by your own hand, I see. Ravenclaw!" was the hat’s pronouncement for Pablo.   
"And you, you want so badly to make your voice heard. Well, you’ll learn to do that here. You don’t know who you are, really, but you’ve turned inward to find out. Ravenclaw!" was what was said for Valerie.  
After a few more words from the Headmistress, the students were dismissed and divided up by their Houses. As he passed, Zacharie called out to Batter, “Hey, let’s meet later out by the forest, alright?” he invited. “Don’t talk to me.” was Batter’s short reply.  
Zacharie turned back to his new house members with a frog-like smile. It was going to be a delightful semester.


End file.
